"Who knew we had you in the mansion."
"You knew," came the boy's voice which was hoa.r.s.e than the voice he had been using. The creature grumbled and bared its teeth that were jagged to look at.
Lucas looked at it, his expression unmoving as he saw how the creature couldn't keep up with its appearance. The skin around its face had started to peel, "You were too perfect for my eyes I think. Doing your ch.o.r.es so regularly and obeying every word but that was not what caught my eyes. You were too eager to send me away from here," he said to the creature who had tried to run its sharp nails against Lucas's skin on his hand, "I should have guessed by the smell, Mr. Scavenger."
He had doubts about the boy, his eyes waiting in excitement on wanting him to leave this mansion so that he could feast on the little girl. There were some scavengers who had made their way past through the gates, escaping to come here so that they could live off in luxury with the number of souls that were available here.
"You are a vampire!" said the scavenger, as the butler appeared to be standing effortlessly in front of it.
Lucas tched, "Guess again."
"Pureblooded vampire!" the creature said to him. Lucas's calm expression turned slack and lazy, "I will kill you!
"Good luck with that!" Lucas said in a bored tone and squeezed the creature's neck further to say, "Enjoy your time back at the gates," and in a snap, the creature turned to a black smoke that evaporated in the air.
Turning around, he looked at the small girl who had fallen down on the ground. Picking her up, he pulled out his pocket watch to see one of the hands in the little clock flicker back and forth near the red line.
The scavengers were the lowest possible creatures one could find in the land of the dead. A place where he frequented over the years by going in and out of it. These creatures fed on the living or dead souls, taking the living to be much more delicious as their soul didn't reek of death in it. Children often fell as victims as the scavengers enjoyed them but there was also something else they liked, a soul that was dark in nature. Souls that were lonely and in despair, souls that were wilting without joy around them.
He looked down at the girl again. Picking her up in his arms, he took her back to her room and put her in bed. The girl would recover as he could tell her time hadn't come yet. Taking a seat against the wall with her arms crossed, he sat there looking at her.
Belle appeared to be one of the brightest girls he had seen. Always up to no good though in her eyes it was a very good thing to do where she received scoldings from her mother. What could be hovering around this little girl that had kept the scavenger here to be attached and to not let go.
The earlier butlers must have hindered the scavenger that had led them to their deaths.
Seeing her breathe, Lucas got up and used his fingers to extinguish the flame that had been burning in her room.
When the next morning arrived, everything appeared to be normal. Except that the servant who used to work for the Adams' had disappeared.
Lucas was serving them breakfast when the maid came forward and spoke something by leaning forward.
Mr. Adams looked at them and asked, "Is everything alright?"
Lucas had a stoic expression on his face when he said, "It seems one of the servants here ran away with a note in his room telling he has found another job in the land of Wovile."
The man didn't appear happy hearing this and he asked, "Who is it?"
"Milo, Sir," Lucas bowed his head. Last night after putting Belle in her head, he had gone down to the room where the scavenger was using to take some of his clothes and belongings, throwing them away and then going back to leave a note in the servant's room before retiring to his own room.
The maid handed in the note to Mr. Adams so that he could read it. During the first week, Lucas had noted every single detail when it came to the people who were living in this mansion. From the Adams' to the servants so that he could use the knowledge about it to his own advantage.
"I guess there's nothing much that can be done. Lucas, make sure he's not taken anything with him and the objects in here are still there in their positions," Mr. Adams said to have the butler bow his head at him.
"Yes, Sir," Lucas answered instantly.
Mrs. Adams then said to her husband, "I thought he didn't mind the work here. Sometimes it is so hard to find people."
After the completion of the meal, Lucas stood in the hallways helping Mr. Adams with his coat and seeing him off in the carriage when Belle came running to Lucas with a paper in her hand.
"Lucas! Lucas!" little Belle made it to where Lucas stood, "See what I drew?"
Lucas looked at the paper in her hand and took it to look at circles and lines drawn in it. His mouth twisted, wanting to say something and he had to bit back his tongue from telling anything to the girl that would discourage her.
"What am I looking at, Miss Belle?" the butler asked the little girl in a very polite tone.
Belle had taken more than four hours to draw it and she looked up at the butler, her eyebrows furrowing together, "It is Romeow and Julisqueak," Lucas's lips twitched this time.
"Wow, it looks wonderful," he praised her as if it was an art he had never seen before, which was true. He had seen a fair share of terrible art in the decades that had pa.s.sed by but this, no one could hold a candle to this piece of art on the paper as it made no sense except for the round circle and a small circle that had a tail, "It is very beautiful, Miss Belle," the girl hearing this beamed.
"You like it?" she asked him.
"Yeah," he answered her to hear her say.
"Keep it," she said with a smile, "I will make mama and papa another one," in the speed she had come to him, she went back at the same speed out of his sight. Lucas didn't care much for the drawing, he didn't even see if it could be of any use to him.
The maid who caught sight of this, who was older than the rest of the servants, a woman in the age of her forties said, "Miss Belle is a very sweet girl. She might appear to be spoilt, trying to go against her parents' words by doing things she shouldn't do and sometimes a little pushy but she has a good heart," the maid looked down at the drawn paper, "Some of the maids who were new didn't like the way she behaved when they started to work here but they have warmed up to her," she gave him a bow and then went back to do her work.
He looked back at the drawing, folding it, he put in his pocket.
Lucas had started to look for the soul again, looking for the man who had been buried after his death at the time of night but the night was never quiet. It was filled with people with intentions that were never right. People who wanted to steal money, or steal life. The creatures who came from his side of the world could smell him but he was getting better when it came to hiding himself, so much that now he was able to walk past them without anyone knowing who he truly was.
But he found nothing.
He had figured out someone had framed him but he couldn't point out who it was because there were far too many people who didn't like him and he held the same feelings towards them.
It was one in the night and Lucas continued to stroll down the streets until he reached the church that had its doors closed. He raised his hand for the door to turn transparent and he stepped inside. His footsteps barely making any noise on the ground he walked on.
A woman sat on the first bench, a book in her hand as she read until she finally sensed someone's presence in the church.
"Been a long time since we last met," said the woman, her long straight, black hair open and parted at the center. Turning around the book she placed it on the bench with a leaf at the page so that she would be able to continue reading it later.
Lucas could feel his skin itch because of the place he was in. A holy place was no place for a grim reaper to be right now.
The woman looked at him, her eyebrows slightly raised in surprise, and a subtle smile on her lips, "What is with the attire?"
"Thought to play butler for some time. How have you been, Isabell?" he asked the woman.
